Yahiro Kazama

Yahiro Kazama
is a Japanese manager and former footballer. He played for the Japan national team. He is the first Japanese player to score in the J1 League. His two sons Koki Kazama and Koya Kazama are also footballers.
Club career
Kazama was born in Shizuoka on October 16, 1961. After graduating from University of Tsukuba, he moved to Germany in 1984. He played for several clubs, including Remscheid and Eintracht Braunschweig. In 1989, he returned to Japan and joined Japan Soccer League Division 2 club Mazda (later Sanfrecce Hiroshima). The club was promoted to Division 1 in 1991. In 1992, the Japan Soccer League was folded and founded a new league, the J1 League. In the league's first season, he played in the opening match and scored a goal, which is the first goal by a Japanese player in the J1 League. He left Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the end of the 1995 season and returned to Remscheid again. He retired in 1998.
National team career
In August 1979, when Kazama was a Shimizu Commercial High School student, he was selected by the Japan U-20 national team for 1979 World Youth Championship and he played 3 games. In December 1980, when he was a University of Tsukuba student, he was selected by the Japan national team for 1982 World Cup qualification. At this qualification, on December 22, he debuted against Singapore. He also played at 1982 Asian Games and 1984 Summer Olympics qualification. He played 19 games for Japan until 1983. After he moved to Germany in 1984, he was not selected to play for Japan.
Coaching career
After retirement, Kazama became a manager for the Toin University of Yokohama in 1998. He resigned in 2003. In 2008, he became a manager for his alma mater University of Tsukuba and managed until April 2012.
On April 23, 2012, Kawasaki Frontale announced Kazama as their new manager. He succeeded Naoki Soma who was fired for poor results. Kazama led the club to 3rd place twice (2013 and 2016) and were runners-up of the 2016 Emperor's Cup. He resigned at the end of the 2016 season.
In 2017, Kazama moved to J2 League club Nagoya Grampus. He led the club to a 3rd place finish at the end of the season and hence gained promotion to 2018 J1 League. In 2018 season, although Grampus results were bad, Grampus finished at the 15th place and remained in J1. On 23 September 2019, it was announced Kazama would be leaving Grampus after an underwhelming season.
Club statistics
National team statistics
Managerial statistics
References
External links
Japan National Football Team Database
1961 births
Living people
University of Tsukuba alumni
Japanese men's footballers
Japan men's youth international footballers
Japan men's international footballers
Japanese expatriate men's footballers
Japanese expatriate sportspeople in West Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany
2. Bundesliga players
Japan Soccer League players
J1 League players
Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players
FC Remscheid players
Eintracht Braunschweig players
Sanfrecce Hiroshima players
Japanese football managers
J1 League managers
J2 League managers
Kawasaki Frontale managers
Nagoya Grampus managers
Footballers at the 1982 Asian Games
Men's association football midfielders
Asian Games competitors for Japan
Association football people from Shizuoka (city)